A Cruise with the Weasleys
by endingthismonotony
Summary: Hermione, Harry, and the Weasleys take a muggle cruise to relax after the war.
1. Chapter 1

Hermione sighed at the sight of her still empty suitcase. She knew she had to get ready for the trip, she just didn't want to pack. Ginny walked in a minute later and announced,

"You know we may be magical, but the suitcase isn't going to pack itself."

After the war, the Ministry had decided to give hearty "rewards" to all that were in the Order. The Weasley's, being ecstatic that Fred had finally woken up from his week in a coma after being assumed dead at the battle of Hogwarts and rich from the amount of money they had recieved, had bought tickets for a muggle cruise liner that would sail around the Atlantic ocean for a week.

Harry and Hermione had been invited along and both had said they would pay their own way, a request Mrs. Weasley had immediately vetoed.

"Why on earth would we have you two pay?" Mrs. Weasley had sounded outraged at the idea of the two paying for themselves "You two are my children, red hair or not."

Hermione chuckled at the memory, and looked over to see Ginny twirling her wand, quickly levitating clothes up for inspection, then placing them into different piles.

Ginny looked over to Hermione's bikini, laid out on the bed and chuckled.

"Trying to look good for my brother I see."

"Ginny, I told you, after Ron and I kissed, we realized we didn't feel anything and decided we'd be better off friends" Hermione huffed.

"Yeah I know" Ginny replied in a tone that made Hermione feel like her younger friend wasn't telling her something. Hermione decided not to pursue it, and instead glanced over to the suitcase, which was zipping itself up.

"I'm going down for lunch" Ginny announced, "are you coming?"

"I'll be down in a few minutes; I just want to pack a few books"

Ginny left the room and Hermione sat on the bed. _How could they go on like this?_ Hermione thought, _don't they remember anything from the war?_

At this thought George Weasley, prankster extraordinaire and one half of the famous Weasley twins, poked his head through the door of the room Ginny and Hermione shared and started to ask about the clean socks that he couldn't find, but stopped immediately after seeing the sullen look on Hermione Granger's face.

"Hey Mione, are you okay?"

George had taken to calling Hermione by her shortened nickname ever since she had been so helpful and friendly during the week before Fred had woken up from his coma.

"It's like everyone has forgotten", she thought of Lupin, Tonks, and all of the others that had been lost in the war.

He went over and sat on the bed next to her, pulling her onto his lap and encompassing Hermione into a huge bear hug.

"I know it's weird, I went through this when Fred was in his coma, it's just their way of healing."

Hermione nodded, embarrassed at how weak she was acting.

"Thanks George, I'm so glad we've become friends over the last month."

They got up and went downstairs for lunch, one of them hurting at the thought of being only a friend.


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't believe it's so big" Hermione and George gaped at the same time, then looked at each other with a expression of surprise and embarrassment.

"Loads bigger than Drumstring's" Ron happily observed. He never quite learned to like the school known for its freezing winters and tolerance of dark arts.

The trip to the huge cruise ship was easier than Hermione expected, they were able to travel port key to just under a half mile within the ship yard. With Mr. Weasley bumbling and questioning the muggle world, and everyone making their own observations, time flew.

Mr. Weasley got onto the ship first, as he was so fascinated by it. Ginny trailed worriedly behind, trying to make sure her father didn't reveal them as wizards before she had the chance to swim.

Behind them was Hermione, walking alongside George. Fred was a bit behind; sneaking something that looked suspiciously like it was an invention from the shop into Ron's bag.

"Scared of getting sea sick" George asked Hermione. He had only been on a ship once before and he had to listen to Percy puke his guts up the entire time. He shuddered at the memory; it was not an experience he wanted to relive.

"Muggle Cruise Liners have machines in them prevent such a thing" Hermione reported. She remembered learning about it while doing an extra credit assignment in Muggle Studies the year before.

"Oh that's good I suppose" George was still confused but wanted to show Hermione that he could learn and adapt to muggle life easily. He walked away a minute later as Fred called him over.

Hermione, always picking up on undertones was embarrassed and figured he didn't care about the useless bit of information she had just thrown out.

_Good Godric, I'm making him think I'm a dorky bookworm with a quest to constantly please teachers_ Hermione thought. _Wait, why would I care? It's not like I have a thing for George Weasley._ She looked over at him, talking to his twin and pulling some windswept hair back behind his remaining ear. She smiled. _Good Godric, I do have a thing for George Weasley _Hermione groaned internally.

Just as Hermione was wondering when it had happened, Ginny ran up to her, grabbed her arm, and started jumping, squealing about the amount of cute muggle boys on the ship that they could hang out with. "Come on" Ginny was already heading towards the lower decks, Hermione quickly followed. "I already put my clothes in the room but you still have to" Ginny explained, then went back to gushing about the sheer amount of boys.

As a topic of discussion Hermione asked "What more about the muggle guys, Ginny?" Ginny stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Hermione confused but recovered quickly. "Well I met these two guys around out age, maybe a bit older" Ginny started "I told them I was here with a SINGLE friend my age, and that we should all go dancing together tonight" "You are still single? Right Hermione?"

"Of Course Ginny, where would you get the idea that I wasn't?" Hermione asked. She figured dancing wasn't an actual commitment to the person and despite the fact that it wouldn't be with the person she wanted to dance with, she could still have fun.

Later that night, Hermione let Ginny dress her in white shorts that "complemented her tan" and a silky grey tank that "brought out her eyes". Hermione decided that although she didn't totally understand fashion, she decided that she looked good and thanked Ginny.

An hour before the dancing started, Ginny and Hermione went up, already dressed, to grab some food to tide them over for the night of dancing. As they got to the twenty four hour buffet, Hermione saw that Harry, Ron, and the Twins were sitting at a table on the far right side of the seating area.

As she was finishing piling salad onto her plate, Ginny noticed Harry and her three closest brothers sitting down and discussing the Cleansweep vs. the Nimbus.

When the girls approached the table, the boys offered them two seats next to each other in between Harry and George. Ginny, still having a bit of a crush on Harry, sat next to him, leaving the space next to George open.

As Hermione sat down with her salad and picked up her fork, she felt George lean over and whisper "Don't use the pepper" into her ear. She shuddered as his lips came almost an inch within the space of her ear, and only after; when George had started discussing brooms with Fred did she remember what he actually said and she gaped at George.

Glancing back and seeing this, George winked; thinking about how he didn't want to see Hermione use the pepper and then sneeze uncontrollably for five straight minutes. He and Fred had meant it for Harry or Ron, preferably Ron because he was so easy to get a rise out of.

As it became time for the girls to go. Hermione stood up from the table. George was about to add one last thing to their discussion before she left and then noticed what she was wearing. He did a double take that only Ginny saw, but she just smirked to herself.

After they had said their goodbyes, Hermione thought back to talking with George. She had talked and listened to everyone but George especially was an exceptionally good listener. Even when she started to rant about the History of Magic curriculum. She wondered what that meant as she walked with Ginny to the dance area.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, what are their names again?" Hermione asked, she was grudgingly interested in the boys Ginny had spoken of.

"Jacob and Alec" Ginny responded without hesitation. They were headed towards the teen club, part of the ship where teens could take a break from the fancy dinners with their parents and dance, play games, and just get away.

As they came to the club, Hermione spotted two well dressed muggle boys standing in the entrance. The one on the right was average height with blond hair, and a smirk that reminded Hermione a bit too much of Draco Malfoy. The other was tall with brown hair and looked like he would have been an excellent chaser had he not been muggle.

"Hey guys, this is my friend Hermione" Ginny nodded to her. She stepped over and slung an arm over the brown haired boy, which looked funny considering he was more than a head taller than her, and said "This is Jacob, he's hilarious", she detached her arm and waved it towards the blond, "and this is Alec" Ginny gave Hermione a covert wink and moved her head as if to say "Stand by Alec like I'm standing next to Jacob".

The group walked over to a table and started talking about how they knew each other and their families, Alec took an interest in the many Weasley brothers. Alec didn't say much and Hermione was content to let the others talk.

After awhile Ginny and Jacob got up to go to the dance floor. There were several couples already dancing, the music had a fast-paced beat and Hermione decided that it was less dancing and more grinding.

She looked over at Alec, he had been quiet the entire time they were there but she hated awkwardness so she put on a smile and asked over the music "Is this your first cruise? It's mine and I'm having a lot of fun."

"I come every year with my parents; Jacob's my best friend so he comes too". He looked over at his friend and Ginny, who were close together on the dance floor, moving to a slower song. Upon closer inspection, Hermione saw Jacob's hands inching closer to Ginny's butt and his mouth on her neck. Hermione sighed, Ginny had never really been able to control herself when it came to guys, and she knew if it went any further, she'd have to step in.

Alec slid closer to Hermione and put a hand on her knee, "So, my cabin is open if you'd like to go somewhere more private" he waited a few seconds, then added "if you know what I mean". He'd said this in a husky whisper, inches away from her ear. It reminded her of George doing the same earlier in the night; same whisper, different results.

Hermione stood, disgusted "Get away from me you pompous arse. If you think I'd be an easy shag, then you're terribly mistaken". She was headed towards Ginny, preparing to get them out of there as soon as possible when Alec grabbed her wrist "Come on you-", he was interrupted by a deadly calm voice that stated "I recommend you remove your filthy hand from her wrist". Hermione looked behind her to the welcoming sight of George, who was looking like he could kill.

Alec dropped her arm, and put up his arms in surrender "Sorry, didn't know she had a boyfriend, won't happen again" before rushing off to find his friend, who was in much of the same situation but with Fred who was, if possible, angrier at seeing a boy touch his little sister.

"Are you okay? I heard what he said to you, I'm contemplating beating him up right now, or making sure that he won't be able to hold down solid food for the rest of his nice little holiday" Hermione smiled at him "Thank you George, he was starting to freak me out, oh and I'd go with the latter.

George smiled, "Okay, let's go tell Fred our plan so he doesn't commit murder on the dance floor" Hermione looked over to see Fred all but steaming in the ears, watching the retreating Jacob with hatred as he stood in front of his embarrassed sister.

As they walked over, avoiding the still grinding couples on the dance floor, Hermione wondered why George had not denied being called her boyfriend.


End file.
